Vryemnya
by Pooch
Summary: Chapter 7 is now up. Much like the other ones, it is short. Get used to it. Oh, right, a summary. Well, something bad happens to Rinoa.
1. Chapter 1

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Vremnya

By Alex and Dave

Disclaimer: We don't own FF or the characters and sadly get no profit from writing these.

Authors' Note: We decided that because not many people liked our last fic, and because some people just right out hate us and what we do, that we should write a story in a category you don't see too often…horror.

As most of our fics, part of this is based on something that actually happened to me (Alex). If you really want to know which part, e-mail will tell you the answer.

Vremnya is Russian for 'time'. I (Alex) thought that calling it "Time" would be too boring, but I noticed that people often read fanfics with titles written in a different language. I hope this will work.

-Alex and Dave

Squall had everything planned out. He had waited long enough and wanted everything to be perfect. He sat in the cafeteria now, waiting for her to come down for breakfast. Then he would surprise her.

The others; being Zell, Irvine, Quistis, and Selphie; were surprised when he had asked to sit alone this morning. His nerves were racked and his palms were sweaty. It wasn't asking her to go with him this morning that made him nervous, it was asking her what he would if she agreed and they went. He needed time to sit and think everything through, and the others weren't the best people to be around when that was what you wanted.

He watched the door closely and his heart sped up every time someone walked in. He was ready, now all he needed was her to be here.

At that moment, she walked through the door, and Squall jumped out of his chair and walked briskly over to her. As he got close he smiled and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and hugged his waist. "Come sit down with me, I want to ask you something." 

They walked back over to the table he had been sitting at before and pulled out a chair for her and she sat down. He went around to the other side, sat down, and grabbed her hands across the table. 

"Rinoa, I've been planning this for a while, so I hope you'll want to go." He sighed heavily and looked into her eyes. "What do you say just you and me, oh and Angelo, take a break and go away to Winhill for a week. I found a small cottage for rent just outside the town, and if you want, I'll get it and we'll take a vacation. Just you and me, no weapons, no sorceresses….well, no _evil_ sorceresses that is, and no Selphie. Sound good?"

"Squall, it sounded good even before you started. When do we go?"

He smiled widely and kissed her hands. "As soon as you want."

__

Part one, successful, he thought to himself. That was the easiest part. 

++++++++

Three days later, Squall and Rinoa had everything packed up and the Ragnarok ready for takeoff. They had said goodbye to the others and were now trying to get Angelo away from a hotdog that someone had dropped on the ground just outside the dormitories. Irvine and Quistis were doing the same to Zell. 

They finally boarded and took off, and four hours later, landed outside of Winhill. 

"It's over there," Squall pointed out the cottage. 

It was a beautiful wood cottage surrounded by a large field. 

"It's beautiful…" she gasped. He came up behind her and put his arms around her stomach. She turned and hugged him tightly. "Thank you. This is gonna be great!"

"Hey, are you Squall?" They looked to see a middle aged man in the door of the cottage. 

"He's the one rented it out to us," Squall explained. "Yeah, that's me. Is it all set?" He asked the man.

"It is. Enjoy." They watched as he walked over to the car parked in the driveway, got in, and took off. 

"Well, here we go." And they stepped inside the cottage.

+++++++++

They had been there for three days, and they were having the time of their lives. Life was so much easier without monsters, battles, sorceresses (evil ones), and Selphie and Irvine all over each other all the time.

Night was falling and this was the night Squall planned on. He had set everything up in the field while Rinoa took Angelo for a walk. He had used his time efficiently and it was perfect. 

They were now sitting in the cottage by the fire. Squall had gotten up to get a bottle of wine he had hidden in the basement and came back, hiding it behind his back, and told her he had a surprise for her.

He showed her the bottle. "What's that for?" she asked. 

"Us. Come with me." He led her out the door by the hand and brought her into the middle of the field where he had set up a blanket, two white candles, two wine glasses, and a small, black box with gold ribbons wrapped around it. 

"What's all this?" She felt strongly for him. This was so unlike him. He most romantic thing he ever did was greet her with a kiss on the cheek. 

"Sit," he commanded. He guided her to the black box and she sat down in front of it. He sat opposite of her. He poured wine for both of them and handed her a glass. They clinked glasses and sipped. 

He put his glass down, his hands now sweaty and his heart beating fast, and picked up the black box and held it in his hands. He looked at her. "I love you," he whispered. He leaned forward and kissed her mouth. They held it for a while, and then he pulled back. 

"I want you to have this." He handed her the box. She untied the ribbons and opened it up to find a ring. It had a gold band, and it had a small trio of diamonds that stared up at her. 

"Oh my god…" she didn't know what to do.

"Will you marry me, Rinoa?" 

She looked up at him. "I….I don't know…I just…" She looked around nervously. "I'm sorry, I think Angelo needs another walk. I have to…I'm sorry, I don't know." 

With that she got up and ran back into the cottage and emerged moments later with Angelo and the walked towards town. 

Squall put his head in his hands and cried.

+++++++++

Rinoa walked briskly away. _You love him! Why did you get up and leave? _She debated over and over in her head whether to go back and throw her arms around him and declare that she loved him and yes, she'd love to be his wife, or to walk right out of this peaceful town and get on the Ragnarok and get out. She almost turned back once or twice, but kept walking. She dragged Angelo along as they reached the small line of houses that lined Winhill. 

She walked along the edge of the backs of the houses, occasionally looking inside to see happy families getting ready to go to bed or watching TV together or eating a late dinner. _Why did I just get up and walk away like that?_ She slowed down, and stopped. She was about to turn back and tell him yes, but as she turned, she saw inside the window of the house she was standing next to. What she saw horrified her. Standing the pitch black room were three figures, whose faces could not be seen, wearing dark robes and hoods, and behind them she saw a circle of red candles, and in the center of the circle, a naked, bloody woman with a long sword stabbed into her heart. Before she could run, the three figures turned and looked right at her. 

She froze. She saw two of them move towards the door, and suddenly she could move. She ran as fast as she could back towards the direction of the cottage. She turned her head to look back and saw the two hooded figures chasing after her. She was jerked back when Angelo stopped to smell something on the ground. She tried pulling him back, but as she saw the hoods closing in, she left him there. 

She sprinted away and turned back to see that there was only one hood was chasing her now. She saw the other strangling Angelo and as she turned back she began to cry. She had Angelo for 6 years, and she loved him like a brother, but now she had her life to worry about, and she quickly forgot about Angelo as a hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. The last thing she saw was a fist flying towards her face.

++++++++++

The first part is done! I have no idea how many chapters there will be or how long it will take. But this is not the last you'll see of this fic. To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

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Vryemnya

By Alex and Dave

This is Chapter 2, and we still have no custody over FF or the characters. Strange, huh?

Anyway, since people seem to like the first chapter and one begged for the second as soon as possible, I started writing again right now (Feb. 18, 2001; 4:58 PM). So here we gooooooooooo…

Squall had fallen asleep on the blanket in the field. He woke up, sat up, and looked around. _Where's Rinoa…_

He stood up and brushed himself off. It was still dark out, he figured it was probably four or five in the morning. He didn't wear a watch so he headed back to the cottage. 

As he neared it, he saw something by the door. It looked like Angelo. It was Angelo, sleeping on the doorstep. No sign of Rinoa, though. As he got closer, he discovered that Angelo didn't seem to have any hair on him at all. As he god closer, he saw what was actually wrong with Angelo and he turned around, kneeled down on the ground, and lost whatever food was in his stomach. Not only did Angelo have no hair; he also had no skin, eyes, tongue, tail, or lungs. 

Squall ran back to the place where he proposed and took the blanket and ran back, covering his mouth. He threw the blanket over Angelo and picked him up and put him aside. He busted into the cottage and screamed "RINOA!!!" Nobody answered. "Rinoa! Where the hell are you?" He turned the small place upside down looking for her. 

With no luck in finding her, he ran into town. He knocked on every door and searched all the stores, hotels and vacant buildings. He suddenly realized that she might have taken off in the Ragnarok and ran back to where they had left it. It was still there. She had to be somewhere. But where?

++++++++++

Rinoa became aware that she was conscious again. She had a pounding headache and she was freezing cold. She also realized that as she put her arms around herself to keep warm that she had no clothes on. She opened her eyes and found herself in complete darkness. She stood up and felt her way around. She screamed when a hand grabbed her ankle. She tried kicking it away, but when she was kicking, the hand pulled her leg out from under her and she fell hard on her back. 

She felt a body crawl on top of her and cover her mouth. She cried as she felt the man on top of her enter her and forcefully move himself between her legs. She tried biting his hand but he only slapped her face roughly. He grunted and she felt him climax inside her. 

The man rolled off of her and suddenly she was alone again. She had no idea where she was or who he was or where he had gone, but she knew that she was not in Winhill anymore. She sat up, curled in a ball, and cried. 

+++++++++

Squall had contacted Cid and Garden was on its way and would be here in a day or two. Squall requested a full search of all buildings and houses in Winhill and the land, water, and mountains surrounding the small town. She couldn't have gotten very far within one night. Not with out some high speed air vehicle or water craft. 

Had someone taken her? Was she kidnapped? Or did she go by her own will? He really hated the fact that she had left after he had asked such a question. But it wasn't important, because now Rinoa was missing all together. 

Buncha more chapters on the way. To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

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Vryemnya

By Alex and Dave

The third chapter in our first story longer than 8Ks. We don't own the characters because they belong to Square. 

Rinoa decided that the first step of getting out was finding out where the hell she was. She stood up and put her hands in front of her and walked forward slowly. After about 5 steps she kicked something. She got down on her knees and felt around the floor. Her hand rested on something circular. It was a ring. As she explored a little more, she found another ring, and a small chain. It was her necklace. 

She put the necklace back together and put it around her neck. She stood back up, put her hands out in front of her again, and stared taking baby steps forward. She stopped as her fingertips hit something hard. She flattened her palms against it, and realized it was a stone wall. She felt along the wall to her left until she came to another wall. She felt along that wall and came to a set of bars. Her heart sank and her fears expanded. She was in a prison cell. 

Rinoa sank to the floor and sighed. She curled herself up in a ball, and hoped that her clothes were in here somewhere. She felt around on the floor on her hands and knees. She cursed as her head hit something hard. She sat up and rubbed her forehead. She reached out with one hand to discover that she had hit a bed. She crawled on top of it and found something like a sheet, but it wasn't. It had a big hole in it, no, three big holes in it. A robe of some sort. _It's better than nothing_, she thought, and put it on. 

She sat on top of the bed and hugged her knees. She had nothing to do but think.

Where was there a prison in the world? It had to be abandoned. She didn't hear anyone else, and normally prisons weren't completely dark. 

Would the man who raped her return? Was he the only one or were there more? Would they feed her and give her water? Why did they bring her here? Why not kill her like they had Angelo? 

Why didn't she say yes to Squall? She really did love him. _We're too young. Aren't we? No, people get married all the time at 19. I guess I was shocked. I never expected him to do that. I guess I just got scared and didn't know what to do. _

She wondered what he was doing right now. Was he looking desperately for her? Did he even know she was gone? Would he ever find her? She didn't even know where she was, how could he possibly find out? 

+++++++++

Squall was stumped. They had searched Winhill thoroughly and there was no sign of Rinoa. They had searched the fields, mountains, and the ocean, and they didn't find anything. She wasn't in Winhill, and they were sure of that. But that was just one town. The world was big, and it was going to be a long and vigorous search, but Squall was determined. And he wasn't alone. He had the others on his side, and they would help each other to get though this; even if they never found her, they'd be there for each other. 

He had assigned each of them to a different area with a large search team. Irvine's team was in the Balamb area; Selphie's team was in the northern area of the eastern continent, above and around Trabia; Quistis's team was in the southern part of the eastern continent, near Esther; Zell's team was in northern Galbadia; Xu helped out by taking a team to southern Galbadia; and finally, Squall had his team located in the Centra Islands. 

They had been stationed this morning and the search would begin at daybreak tomorrow morning. They would search all day and rest at night until they found Rinoa. 

If they couldn't find her then, it was hopeless to keep searching. 

+++++++++

Rinoa's eyes had started to adjust to the darkness. She could make out some shapes. She knew for sure now that she was in a prison cell. She couldn't see what was past it though. She didn't dare go up to check and see if she could; she was scared the man would jump out from somewhere and rape her again. She hadn't heard him leave the cell, so it was most likely he was still here. She couldn't see him anywhere in the cell, and that frightened her more than anything. If she couldn't see him, he was most likely under the very bed she was sitting atop. 

Rinoa wanted to be sure though. He might have slipped out when she nodded off. Then again, he might not have. 

She couldn't think of a way to find out. Peeking under might result in something bad. She couldn't just feel under there, he might grab her hand and that would lead to worse things. But she had to know.

Then it hit her. She felt so stupid for not thinking of it before. She started to concentrate, and when she was focused enough, she moved her hands under the bed and let loose a bolt of lighting. The room light up briefly and she heard a painful scream from under the bed. When things quieted down, she carefully looked under the bed. She saw a man, his skin burnt badly. If he was still alive, he wasn't going anywhere soon. She got off the bed and went to inspect.

She got on her knees in front of the body. As much as she didn't want to, she reached out and took his pulse. Nothing. A sick thought ran through her head. If they didn't feed her, she might have to live off of this man. She couldn't live off him forever though. 

She had to get out of here.

Part 4 coming soon.


	4. Chapter 4

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Vryemnya

Part 4

By Alex and Dave

It's true, we STILL don't own the characters, the game, or anything else related to Final Fantasy, except this story and the others we've written. 

Lets recap: Rinoa is stuck in a prison cell and has been raped, but only once and the man who did it is no longer a threat, for he was executed by Rinoa's sorcery; Squall is on a desperate search for his missing love, and has his friends helping out all over the world; and Rinoa needs to get out of the cell if she wants to stay alive.

Squall and his world wide search team had been searching for a week and they had gotten nowhere. They didn't even find a clue as to where she might be. That didn't mean they weren't going to find her though; they had barely searched all the land they were assigned to.

Squall himself was a wreck. He wasn't sleeping, he ate very little, and he was slipping more and more into depression with each passing unsuccessful day. He missed her terribly. The last time they spoke had ended badly. He should have stopped her from leaving like he was going to, but he froze. He was too shy to do anything about it at the time. He should have at least asked her to talk it out with him as she was leaving. He could have followed her and Angelo and talked to her then. He could have protected her then. So many regrets, but feeling sorry for himself wasn't going to find her. 

He knew that searching the entire world probably wouldn't find her. There had to be some other way. Something smarter, that would find her faster. Her life might be in danger. Nobody knew. She wasn't here to tell them how she was doing. But he had to assume she was. They couldn't take their sweet time either way.

++++++++++

It had been about 2 weeks that Rinoa had been in the cell. Nobody else had shown up. It was always so quiet, and she was hearing things coming from outside her cell: creaking, bangs, water running. Sometime in the past day she thought she heard moaning, and she called out, but the moaning stopped. After about five minutes, it would start again, she would call out, and it would stop. It had stopped completely about an hour ago. She hadn't heard anything since but the sound of her breath. 

She had been picking off the dead man, but she was still hungry. She was also very lonely. She had named the corpse James, propped it up so it was sitting against the wall, and she talked to it. She told James how she was feeling, how hungry she was, how much she missed Squall: everything. After discussing how hungry she was, she usually asked James if she could chew on his leg for a bit. He never said anything in opposition, so she did, and she always apologized after. 

Lately she had started to feel a little shaky. Whenever she did, she thought it was because she was getting out of shape, and she would get down on the ground and do pushups and sit ups. She'd also stretch and run around the cell in a circle until she couldn't run anymore. Then she would lie down on the bed and start to think. Think about ways to get out. Even just out of the cell would be fine for her. 

She was now leaning against the bars, unsuccessfully trying to squeeze herself between them. She stopped suddenly when she heard soft footsteps in the hall on the left. She stuck her head between the bars and squinted to see through the darkness who it was. The footsteps got closer and closer, but she still didn't see anyone. She heard the footsteps walk right in front of her cell and then continue down the hall. She didn't see anyone, and she could see perfectly well in front of her cell. 

She pulled her head back into the cell and ran over to James and cuddled against him. She buried her face in his chest and held her breath. She looked up when the footsteps couldn't be heard anymore. "I need Squall, James! I can't take this anymore! Will you help me think of a way to get out of here?" She stared at James and waited for an answer. 

__

Can you use your sorcery to get out of the cell? James suggested in her head. 

"Maybe, but how?"

__

Try burning down the bars or something.

"Okay, cover your eyes." She stood up and concentrated all of her energy into her finger tips. "Firaga!" She yelled and a huge ball of fire shot out of her hand and onto the bars of the cell. She felt the energy rush out of her and the heat against her skin. 

When it was over, she looked back at James and smiled. She walked over to the smoking bars to find that they hadn't burned them away, but they were crispy. She reached out to grab one and screamed when the scorched bars burnt her hands. She pulled back quickly and held her hand to her chest. 

__

You shouldn't have done that, you knew it was still hot.

"Shut up. It's a known fact that metal bends when it's hot, so I tried, but it was too hot."

__

Well try again, but use something to protect your hands.

"Like what, my robe?" 

__

What else?

She ripped the sleeves off her robe and wrapped them around her hands. She walked back to the bars and put her protected hands around the bars and to her surprise, they crumbled away in her hands. "I guess they weren't very well made," she commented to James.

__

I guess not, but the point now is to get out. 

She nodded and started pushing away the bars and when there was a hole big enough for her to fit through, she turned back to James and saluted him. "Nice knowin' ya!"

__

Don't wait for me. Tell Squall I said hello.

"I will." And with that she stepped out of the cell. 

More to come. Sorry it took so long to finish this one up, it's not even that long. I've been busy lately and couldn't get on the computer.


	5. Chapter 5

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Vryemnya

By Alex and Dave

I'm not going through the disclaimer BS. You all know how it goes.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rinoa felt a rush of relief fill her as she stood outside the cell. She was one step closer to getting out of there.

She took a deep breath in and started walking down the hall to her left. She froze in her footsteps after a few feet when she heard a loud moan from the cell on her left. She stopped breathing and slowly looked to her left.

She saw nothing. She figured she was hearing things and she continued on. 

She reached the end of the hall without another incident. She grabbed the handle on the large door and pushed it down and pulled. Nothing. She pulled harder. Still nothing. It was locked. "Oh, shit…"

She backed up about 20 feet and cast a Firaga spell on the door. She stepped up to it and kicked it. It wasn't crumbling away like the bars. It didn't even move. She backed up again and tried a Blizzaga on the door. She tried again and still nothing.

She tried almost every spell she could think of to try and get past the door, but nothing worked. She had one spell left, but wondered if it would work. She had nothing to lose.

She stepped back and after a small while, she yelled "Ultima!" and a bright green light shot out of her and smothered the door in light. After it faded, the door still stood, but she went over to it anyway. She tried kicking it again. Nothing. She punched it. Her hand hurt, but still nothing. She stepped back a few steps, and rammed herself into it. "Dammit…" she muttered, and rubbed her shoulder. She couldn't get past the door.

++++++++++++

It would only take another day. If they didn't find her then, they probably wouldn't. Even Squall had come to except that it was a very good chance that he would never see her again. He had fallen into deep depression. He had lost all hope, and told them to stop looking, but they did anyway. 

He was sitting on a collapsed wall in Matron's house. He was hunched over and had his hands linked behind his head. The feeling he was feeling was worse than any physical pain he'd ever felt. It was a dull aching in his chest. A broken heart. It had kept him from sleeping for the past three weeks. It kept him from doing anything for the past week or so. He just didn't feel like moving. It was eating him from the inside.

He heard a faint voice from outside. He looked up and heard it louder this time. "Squall!"

One of his men ran into the room. "Sir, we found something. I think you should come with me."

Squall slowly got up, expecting nothing. The man led him out of the house and onto the Ragnarok. They flew for about 5 minutes before landing on the northern Centra Island.

They exited the ship and got in a car. Squall started to wonder just what they had found. He doubted it was Rinoa. He would have said it first thing. Those were the words he wanted more than anything else to hear…_Sir, we found her!_

The car came to a stop and Squall got out. He looked around him, and saw nothing at first. When he did see it, he couldn't believe it.

Laying on the ground, torn to shreds, were Rinoa's clothes.

++++++++++

Rinoa ran as fast as she could to the other end of the hall. It came to a right turn. She ran down that hall and halfway down, she heard heavy footsteps behind her. 

She didn't know what to do. She kept running, and she sped up a bit, but as she did, the footsteps got faster. 

Suddenly she stopped. The footsteps stopped suddenly. She whipped around and saw nothing. 

She stared behind her for little while more, then turned back around. She took a deep breath and proceeded. 

She took slow steps and listened carefully for the footsteps again. After a while she was convinced that whoever it was, was gone now.

She started to jog a little and eventually reached the end of that hall. There was another door, just like the one before. The same door. The same door she hadn't been able to get through before.

She screamed and started to cry as she sank to her knees and pulled on her hair. She bent over and sobbed into her knees. 

She became instantly quiet when she heard a moaning voice say "R…r…rin…oa…"

Her heart thumped hard in her chest, and she slowly sat up. She turned around and, as usual, she saw nothing. But this time it didn't stop.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrinoaaa…"

She looked all over the hall before her, but saw no one. She took a chance and replied. "…Yes?"

For a moment, she heard nothing and thought she was imagining it, but then the voice spoke again. "Look…in the…cells…"

"W…why?"

No response.

She knew she was taking a big chance by following what a voice, probably one she imagined, was telling her to do. In an abandoned prison, nonetheless. 

She walked cautiously past each of the cells, looking inside to find the source of the voice. After she had gotten to about the fifth one on the right side, she heard the voice again, from behind her.

"Too…far…"

She swore to Hyne she had looked in every cell, left and right. Was it hiding?

She turned around and looked carefully in each cell. When she looked again in the 3rd cell on the left side, she thought she saw something smallish in the corner. It looked like it was moving.

"Is that you?"

She watched, horrified, as the thing stood up and revealed itself to her.

She jumped back in absolute terror.

More to come! I have no idea how many chapters this will be. I have so many ideas running through my head for this story. I have no idea what to do with them all. 


	6. Chapter 6

God, I've had writer's block for so long, but I got some new ideas and I'm putting them down before I forget and beat myself over the head with a brick for forgetting them

God, I've had writer's block for so long, but I got some new ideas and I'm putting them down before I forget and beat myself over the head with a brick for forgetting them. I was also inspired by my new fun happy Queen CD. It makes me happy because "Killer Queen," the best song ever made, is on it. I listen to it over, and over, and over, and over forever and ever.

Now if I can only remember what happened in the last chapter…

"Get these back to Garden immediately! Have them sent to the lab and tell them to check for fingerprints, DNA, hair samples, whatever. Any trace of who did this to her," Squall commanded the officers sent with him to help search for Rinoa. "This could be a big hint in finding her. We find who did this to her, we find them, we find her." 

Squall's attitude had taken a turn for the better when they found her clothes. It was a large step forward. Ever since he saw the torn garments on the earth, he had been full of energy and high hopes. Squall had begun ordering people around, ideas rushing through his mind.

"Wait, screw that. You guys will take too long. I'm taking them back in the Ragnarok." Squall turned towards one of the men standing nearby. "Coleman!" The young man jumped to attention.

"Yes, sir."

"Prepare the Ragnarok for take-off. We leave in 10 minutes. I'm going to go back. Will someone please bag the clothes?" He was frustrated that they had found a large piece of evidence, and no one was preparing it to be transported back to Balamb. "Do I have to do it myself?" A group of men herded around the evidence and packed it up. 

"It's ready to go, Commander!" 

"Good, get it in the ship." Squall turned around and headed back to his tent. _Rinoa, I know I'll see you again. I'll rescue you. I promised…_he thought. He ducked under the flap and began to pack.

The figure that had been speaking in the strangled voice came from a horribly disfigured shape. One that Rinoa didn't recognize at first. The figure had long, greasy, gray-black hair that was half missing from its head. Its face was sagging, downwards and in. It was hunched over, leaning slightly towards it's left. Its knees looked as if they would collapse under it any second now. But it held it's ground.

No matter how disgustingly demented it appeared, Rinoa knew who it was. Or who it was supposed to be, for that matter. 

"Mother…?" Rinoa squinted to see it better. 

It started to speak but couldn't, as it made a gargling noise, and then hacked. Rinoa had to turn around and cover her mouth as a long stream of a yellow liquid poured out of its mouth. 

At that point, Rinoa didn't give a shit who it was; she had to get away from it. She began running back down the corridor, occasionally looking behind her, checking to see if it was following her. She doubted that though. It was probably just her imagination that made her see it as her long dead mother. Rinoa decided that she probably saw it as her mother because of her strong wish to be near people she loved again. 

Lost in her thoughts and turning to look behind her, Rinoa's feet tangled and she collapsed on the cold floor, twisting her ankle badly. She screamed in pain and cursed. She reached forward to grab it. Already it was swollen. Her frustrations got the best of her and Rinoa began sobbing uncontrollably. She was held captive in a prison, she was alone, she was becoming delusional, she couldn't get out of the corridor, and she now had a probable broken or sprained ankle. She slowly curled in a ball, nursing her ankle. 

The Ragnarok landed just outside of Balamb Garden, with Squall itching to get out and to the lab. He motioned for the men to get her clothes. They handed it to him and he stared at it, fondling the clear plastic bag in his fingers. The last time Squall had seen these clothes was when she was walking briskly away from him after his proposal. 

"Sir, you may exit now," one of the men motioned to him. Squall looked down at the man and then headed towards the exit. 

They paraded into Garden, Squall leading the way. People stared and murmured to eachother as they walked by, Rinoa's garments in his hands. They turned into the Infirmary, and headed towards the recently completed forensics lab that was added a few months ago. Cid had hired a doctor, called Dr. Dzek, to run the lab. Dr. Dzek was a middle-aged man who knew a lot about everything. He stood up as they entered.

"What's this?" he asked Squall.

"Clothes. Rinoa's clothes. We found them on the southern most Centra Island. We were hoping you could do some DNA tracing on it, find out who might have taken her," Squall requested.

"No problem. It'll probably take about 24 hours. I'd suggest staying in Garden tonight; it'll be easier to reach you. You can spare one day of searching, right?" 

Squall thought of refusing, but then remembered Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, and Zell, "I'll stay. I'm leaving the second we find any DNA on those that doesn't belong to her. Can I use your phone?" 

Dr. Dzek took the bag from Squall and nodded. Squall turned and entered his office. He dialed and then put the receiver up to his ear. It rang once before it was answered.

"Ragnarok," the voice said.

"This is Commander Leonhart. Bring me the radio, I'm in the Infirmary."

"Yes, sir." The phone clicked and Squall hung up.

He wandered out to where Dr. Kadowaki usually worked. She wasn't there at that moment. He looked from her desk to the bed by the window. Squall remembered when Rinoa was in her coma. He had come to visit her.

__

I want to hear your voice…

How much he wished he could right now. Squall almost wished she were in a coma, instead of missing completely from his life. At least he'd be able to see her if she was in a coma. He could touch her, see her, and know that she was still alive. Now he could only hope, and sometimes hope wasn't enough.

"Commander, the radio." Squall grabbed the radio and excused the man who delivered it to him. 

He found the channel that Quistis was on and attempted to reach her.

"Quistis, come in. This is Squall. Over," he said into the microphone. He looked at the floor, waiting for a reply. 

He heard some static, and then, "Squall, I read you. Did you find something?" Quistis responded.

"Yeah, I'm in Garden. We found her clothes."

"Oh my god."

"We're having Dr. Dzek do some DNA tests on them, he'll have the results tomorrow. I need you to do something for me."

  
"Anything."

"I want you and Zell to abandon your posts and continue the search of Centra. If you find anything, radio me and let me know. Head out now. If we found her clothes there, we might be able to find another clue."

"You got it. I'll get a hold of Zell and we'll head down there as soon as possible. Good luck with the tests."

"Thank you. Good luck out there."

"Thanks. Let me know the results."

"Okay," Squall said, and ended the transmission. 

Rinoa had crawled over the cell closest to her. She began pulling herself up with the help of the bars. She winced as her ankle moved slightly and pain shot up her leg. She could feel it throbbing and tingling. The bars served as a good way to keep herself balanced. 

Silent tears streaked Rinoa's face, and slightly tickled her chin as they rolled off her face. Besides her whimpers of pain, the prison was quiet as death again. She still couldn't see very far in the pitch black. Rinoa observed her surroundings, wondering what the hell she was going to do. 

She hopped once in the direction of the opposite end of the hall she came from. Her ankle flopped loosely and she breathed in sharply. "Son of a bitch," Rinoa said to herself. 

"Wrap it, wrap it with your robe," she instructed herself. She sat down slowly, resting her back against the bars. She lifted her robe up to a screw holding the bars to the wall, and tore her robe with it. Rinoa ripped off a strip of her robe until it pleased her. She rolled it up, and then began unrolling it around her ankle tightly. When the makeshift bandage tightened around the swollen part of Rinoa's ankle, she muttered "Ow." 

Eventually, the bandage was around her ankle, bulging on the side from the significant swelling. Rinoa felt her foot slowly going numb from the tight cloth wrapped around it. She tried standing on it, and she screamed in pain. She had definitely done something bad to it. 

Rinoa leaned against the cell, throwing her head back and closing her eyes. She shook violently as she began to cry hard. 

"Why the fuck can't I get out!" she screamed at the ceiling. Her shout echoed throughout the halls, and her shouts came back to her. The voices scared her and she shriveled back in fear. Rinoa again sat down, quickly. She hugged her knees and the structure creaked, which echoed and freaked her out. She buried her head between her knees and rocked back and forth. 

I know it's not the big cliff hanger ending I usually end with, but it still leaves you wondering…right? Like what Dr. Dzek will find on Rinoa's stuff, how the hell Rinoa's gonna get out of there, is she going INSANE!?

To be continued…..


	7. Chapter 7

After twelve minutes and thirty-seven seconds, Dr. Dzek came out, going over some papers in his hands. Squall stood up and walked over to him. "Are those the results?"

"Yes they are. We tested the DNA on her clothes and we found traces of her DNA, yours, and someone else's. We did a search and found that it belongs to a Kanal Paulles. He lives in Timber and we tried calling his number but no one responded. We suggest you take a trip to Timber and find this man if you can. Here's the address." Dr. Dzek handed him a small rectangle of paper with an address on it. 

  
"Thank you so much," Squall said and shook his hand. "You have no idea what this means to me." 

Squall turned and headed toward the Ragnarok. He radioed his crew and told them the situation. He then radioed Quistis and told her the results and to not leave Centra; to keep looking. 

When he reached the ship, they left and headed to Timber.

***---***---***---***

Rinoa had managed to flounder to the door she had unsuccessfully tried to knock down. When she reached it, she leaned against it heavily, exhausted. To her surprise, the door collapsed under her weight. She fell on top of it. After the dust settled and the pain shooting up her leg stopped, she sat up. Then she laughed maniacally. She stood up and ran as best as she could down the new hallway, laughing all the way.

Before long, Rinoa realized that she had no idea where she was going. She stopped and looked around her. More cells. Nothing but cells. Maybe there would be some stairs or another door at the end of the hallway. She continued, rounded a corner, limped down the next hall, and came to another door. She tried opening it. 

Locked.

She tried leaning against it, like she had the other one. Nothing.

"You expect it to go down with just one shove?" she asked herself. 

"It did last time," she answered.

"But last time you hit it with all your sorcery magic." 

"Yeah, but that didn't work."

"You didn't try hard enough after letting it go. You came back later and it fell down easily. Use your magic! How else do you plan on getting out of here?"

Rinoa's voice of reason won and she let loose on the door. After casting everything she had on it, she waved the smoke out of her face and coughed. When the smoke cleared she stumbled to the door and pushed on it. It creaked and shifted. She tried again and it smashed to the ground. On the other side was a huge, empty room. There were of course cells on either side of the room. She couldn't see the other side of the room. The sound of the door crashing echoed throughout the room. 

When everything settled, she began walking forward reluctantly. She didn't know what was at the end of the room. She was scared, but her need to get out exceeded her fear. 

Rinoa walked slowly, checking in the cells. She didn't want to run into another thing like she had before. She felt a cool breeze blow by her. She immediately thought of an open door and began to run as best she could in the direction the breeze came from. 

After a few seconds she ran into something hard. She fell back. She winced and touched her sore ankle. She looked up to see what she had run into. 

Rinoa rubbed her eyes. She then squinted. What she saw was nothing. She had run into an invisible wall or something. She got up and felt out in front of her. There was nothing there this time. "What the fuck!" she screamed. Rinoa boxed the air and began to cry. 

"Oh just keep going, would you?" she told herself.

Rinoa continued to cry but ceased punching the air. She ran forward again. After her eyes cleared, she saw a small light at the end of the hallway.

--- ------ ------ ----- --------- --------- ------

Oooooh suspenseful! Stay tuned to find out what happens. School is ending, therefore I'll be able to finish this story in no time.


End file.
